German container line Hamburg Sud is hiking fees from 1 December to recover higher fuel costs ahead of IMO 2020 low-sulphur rules coming into effect next January.

The Maersk-owned company said its environmental fuel fee (EFF) has been calculated using the price difference between high sulphur and low sulphur bunkers.

By averaging out differentials in Rotterdam, Singapore and Panama, it arrived at a figure of $193.08